Name: Tina Turner Talks About Mick Jagger & David Bowie | Letterman
Uploaded: 2023-05-24T19:27:25.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Tina Turner Talks About Mick Jagger & David Bowie | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-05-24. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Tina Turner Talks About Mick Jagger & David Bowie | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2023-05-24. Transcript available.

Welcome back to the program, ladies and gentlemen.
My next guest is one of the most exciting performers in show business.
She will be appearing at the Meadowlands June 1st and 2nd,
and this is her latest record album right here entitled Private Dancer.
Please welcome Tina Turner.
Hi, Tina. How are you? Nice to see you.
You look terrific.
Thank you.
Come on over here.
How are you?
You look great. Thank you very much for being here.
We met before a long time ago, didn't we?
Where did we meet?
You were hosting Johnny Carson.
That's right.
And this one I was wearing, the sort of safari.
Oh, yeah.
A little short thing.
It's just, are you going to a safari?
But that was the last time.
Yeah. How long ago was that?
Two, three, four years.
Well, you look great.
Thank you.
Do you exercise a lot, work out, run, lift weights, any of that?
On stage, run, lift weights.
Yeah.
Just in my work, not separate.
Really?
Just performing, you know.
Bear with me here a second.
Some people on the staff thought it would be nice to give you this gift.
I guess we ordered this from a mail order company.
This is something called the, it's called the tuna turner.
And we thought it would be amusing.
And let's see just what this deal is.
The ideal kitchen accessory for making perfect tuna salad.
You stay up nights wondering why your tuna salad isn't perfect, don't you?
Well, now it's no more a problem.
Quick and easy.
No fork, no mess.
It's safe and easy for children.
Dishwasher safe.
Top shelf only.
Patented design.
You want to open that?
All right.
Oh, it's just a price tag is on it.
Boy, I'm telling you.
All right.
Yes, Tina will love this expensive gift here.
Let me.
Oh, oh, it really is.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm surprised.
I thought it was a joke.
No, that's...
Hey, this is wonderful.
Thank you.
Yeah, we have some tuna.
You want to give it a shot?
Yeah.
Hey.
All right.
We going to do it?
Yeah, take the stuff off of there.
Let me open up the, uh...
Do you eat a lot of tuna salad, Tina?
Yeah, I do.
Just with lettuce.
I really do.
Oh, wait a minute.
Hold on.
I don't think we have...
Do we have any lettuce?
Uh-uh.
Wait.
Ah!
All right.
Wait.
I made a...
Are you supposed to drain this stuff off or not?
This is...
Yeah?
This is fancy albacore...
Now, you've busted it.
Well, I know.
Oh, here.
You take that, man.
It's jammed.
Wait, wait, wait.
You've got to press that.
Don't break it.
I'm sorry.
It's jammed, Jim.
There was nothing I could do.
It was jammed.
Hold on.
Wait a minute.
Let me just try once more.
Sure.
Just give us a second.
All right.
Now, it's that one.
It is jammed.
It is jammed.
Now, don't cut yourself.
I won't.
We'd hate for this thing to backfire and have you injured.
It's like a baby Cuisinart, isn't it?
Well...
Well, we'd better not break it.
Here.
I'll take...
Let me...
I'll fix it for you.
Ah!
All right.
We did it.
Not this thing we did it, didn't we?
No, I didn't.
Okay.
Now, see, you're not supposed to do that.
That's what you have this for.
Okay.
Now, what is this deal?
I don't know.
We have an extra one.
Oh, I guess this is the lovely serving platter.
Okay.
Go ahead, Tina.
Crank it up there.
All right.
Paul, can we have a little music here while Tina cranks her?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
That's it.
That's it.
All right.
It's unbelievable.
By the way, if you'd like that recipe for tuna salad, 520 Royal Street, New
Orleans, Louisiana.
Michael Corkin.
He'll be happy to hear from you.
Anyway, well, I'm glad that you took that in.
That's a fun little gimmick to have around.
That's nice.
It's wonderful.
I can travel with it, too.
Yeah.
Now, where exactly are you from?
Born.
That's what I mean.
Born.
Tennessee, Brownsville.
Yes.
Not a smaller place?
Well, Nutbush.
Nutbush.
Where is Nutbush?
Nutbush is a community in Brownsville.
It's a section of Brownsville?
Yes.
No, not really.
It's between towns.
Like, there's Ripley and there's Brownsville.
And Nutbush is a little community between those two towns.
Memphis is closer to either of the towns.
I see.
Do you ever go back there?
I've been back once.
Just once.
Are you a big deal there?
Well, it's just a community.
It's just a couple of stores and community houses.
There's nothing to go back to, really.
I see.
I see.
It's not a town, you know.
Yeah.
You know, Paul was playing a little bit of River Deep here, which you recorded,
when was
that?
1966 with Phil Spector.
Phil Spector.
Phil Spector.
Phil Spector.
And what was that like?
Because, you know, Paul just finished a show downtown about Ellie Greenwich.
Ah.
And who wrote the song.
Right.
And what was it like working with Phil Spector?
Well, it was my first time working with a producer.
Phil, because I had done basically, you know, all my productions.
And, um, the first day was, the fun part was the first day.
He was living in this, like a mansion.
Where is this?
Here on the eastern?
This is in Beverly Hills.
Uh-huh.
Out west.
I went into, there was a buzzer to let me in, and there was a mockingbird that
said,
"Hello."
And I said, "Hello."
A mockingbird?
An actual bird?
Yes.
He just sort of greeted me.
And after sitting there for about maybe 10 minutes, here comes Phil down the
steps.
There's no one in the house.
It was real strange.
And immediately, he went to the piano and started playing, and there was no
conversation.
It was real strange for the first three days.
Uh-huh.
Just checking for keys.
And then, finally--
You mean, you'd go there and watch Phil play the piano, and that was--
No, he was just getting keys.
There was no conversation of, "Hello," and, you know, just--
Yeah.
I was totally uncomfortable.
As a matter of fact, I was a bit afraid, because there was no one in this huge
house--
Well, you're the bird.
That's probably what the bird is for.
That's right.
Don't talk to Phil, you talk to the bird.
I don't talk to the bird.
No.
Well, then after that, then, we started working on the song, "Rares Deep
Mountains High."
And he didn't want me to improvise at all.
He just wanted just the melody.
Uh-huh.
Which is great for me for the first time, because I had never--
I had always been ad-libbing, and delivering, and screaming.
And it was finally the first song that I got to just sing.
And it was an experience.
It was--
We went into the studio.
There were about 75 musicians, and he tore up the charts, because it wasn't
what he wanted.
And he just sort of did the arrangement right there, verbally, to all those
people.
Now, is it true that because of this song, he sort of left recording for a
while?
I never spoke to him about it, but it is known in the business that he was so
upset with America, because, you know, they wouldn't accept it.
Because Black Station said it was too pop, and the pop station said it was too
black, and it had no home, and Phil was just very upset about it.
He thought that this was going to be the ultimate state-of-the-art song of the
day.
Which it is in Europe, all over Europe.
It is.
Yeah, it was a big hit, right?
Yes, huge.
And it just didn't make it in America, ever.
Yeah, that's interesting.
We have to do a commercial here.
We'll be back, folks, with Tina Turner, and we have plenty of tuna for--
You know, I was just looking at this.
This is perfect tuna salad.
Yes.
Oh, you've got an appliance for life there.
That's right.
Now, when you go to the Meadowlands, this is like, what, 20,000 folks, more?
Yes.
I worked there with the Rolling Stones before, so I'm a bit familiar going in
with Lionel now.
This is outdoors, isn't it?
Well, it's not really.
I'm a bit confused.
I just remember working there, what was that, two, two, three years ago, but it's
not outside.
Maybe it's covered with a tent or something, but I didn't sense that it was--
no, it is an outside.
No, the Meadowlands is a vast complex.
They have the football stadium, and then they have the indoor for hockey and
basketball.
Right.
But it's indoors, definitely.
Now, tell me about Mick Jagger.
You're friends with Mick Jagger?
Is it true that you taught him how to dance?
Is that--
It'd be nice to take on that as a feather in my cap.
I didn't really teach him.
When I first toured with him in '68, '66 was the first time, and then in '68,
we were all there in the dressing rooms and Mick mingles a lot.
And he'd just sort of barge in the dressing room.
And we just said, "I'd like to watch you girls dance."
And we were sort of just ponying around in the dressing rooms, you know?
And just playing around.
Actually, it was like influence, because when I first toured with him in '66,
he was just doing the tamarind and sort of beating it.
And the next time I saw him, he was doing the pony and sort of moving.
I was like, "Oh!"
So I didn't really teach him.
I just think he was influenced by the girls and I.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think so.
But you appeared with him on stage.
You sang a duet.
Was this the most recent time?
The last trip, after working with him.
It was my third time, fourth time working with him.
And he came into the dressing room and he said, "You want to do it?"
"I want to do what?"
And so he says, "You want to go and do a song?"
And I was really excited.
And I became really nervous, because it was like strange territory.
It was his key, all of a sudden doing his song on stage and not my version.
But it was wonderful.
What was the song?
It was Honky Tonk Woman.
Honky Tonk Blues.
And I did Honky Tonk, another version of it, Honky Tonk Woman.
And you're also close or friendly with David Boye?
Yes.
Yeah.
Now, how did that begin?
I was working in Switzerland and David came to cast the show and we had dinner
afterwards.
And we just had, it was just sort of a lock-in of a sort of a communication
with those guys,
you know?
I think it's an exchange of like, they like our music, black music.
And it was like talking with, or speaking with someone, or communicating with
someone,
that you feel their emotions, you know what they're about and you know what
they feel.
Do you feel that with me?
Yes.
No, you don't.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
But you and David were up for the same part in Tommy, weren't you?
Assa Queen, yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And actually, when I did this album, Private Dancer, the Might Have Been Queen,
we had spoken
with David about doing the duet with him.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And when I told him that, I said, and it was written Might Have Been Queen.
He goes, oh, Might Have Been Queen.
It was like a joke, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I won over Assa Queen.
All right.
It's Tina Turner.
And what is the name of this again?
It's Private Dancer.
Oh, yeah.
Down here.
Yeah.
This is, again, quite a cover.
Yeah.
Well, we'll be back here.
We're nearly out of time.
Thank you very much, Tina.
We'll be right back, folks.
Okay.
We're out of time.
Tina will be at the Meadowlands, June 1st and 2nd.
Have a nice show over there.
Come back and see us again.
Nice to see you again.
Tina Turner.
Also, my thanks to Bill Murray.
We'll see you Monday, folks.
Have a good weekend.
Thank you very much.
Good night, everybody.
Thank you.